Narada Case: CBI Seeks Speaker's Sanction To Prosecute 3 TMC MPs, One West Bengal Minister

If the sanction is accorded, the four leaders may be named by the agency in its charge sheet in the case, sources said.

New Delhi: The CBI has sought prosecution sanction from Lok Sabha Speaker Om Birla against three current MPs and one former MP in the Narada sting case. The MPs Saugata Roy, Kakoli Ghosh and Prasun Banerjee, belong to West Bengal’s ruling Trinamool Congress, news agency PTI reported. Suvendu Adhikari, 48, is a former MP from Tamluk Lok Sabha constituency in West Bengal and is now the transport minister in the state government. The 73-year old Roy is an MP from Dum Dum, while Ghosh (59) represents the Barasat constituency. Prasun Banerjee (64) is an MP from Howrah. The officials said the agency has requested the speaker to let it prosecute the four. If the sanction is accorded, the four leaders may be named by the agency in its charge sheet in the case, PTI reported quoting sources. Just before the West Bengal Assembly elections in 2016, Mathew Samuel, Editor and Managing Director of Narada news portal, broadcast a sting video in which a number of Trinamool Congress leaders were allegedly seen taking money on camera. The CBI lodged an FIR in April 2017 following a court order, naming 13 Trinamool leaders and have interrogated many of them. The purported footage was also sent for forensic examination. The Enforcement Directorate is also probing the money trail in the case. On Wednesday, the CBI grilled Trinamool MP K.D. Singh, Samuel and former TMC leader Mukul Roy in the case. Roy, after quitting the TMC had joined the BJP in November 2017. He was former aide of Mamata Banerjee, and had a fallout with her in 2015 when his name cropped up in the Saradha scam as well as the Narada sting operation. He was later suspended from the party for six years. (With inputs from PTI)